NEW YORK—Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have established an international criminal tribunal to investigate the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight in July 2014 over eastern Ukraine that killed 298 on board.

The Security Council “sent the wrong message” to the families of the victims, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told the council after the vote Wednesday. “We are sending a message of impunity to the perpetrators and endangering the safety of civilian air travel over conflict zones in the future,” he said.

Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, said Moscow “seeks justice” in the downing of Flight 17, but said the resolution was politically motivatedby “interested states” that acted “outside” the council in collusion with Ukraine.

Russia has introduced its own draft resolution that calls for a “transparent international investigation” that has “nothing to do with impunity” in which Russia would have more input than it has been allowed into the Dutch-led probe, which is yet to be completed, Mr. Churkin said. The mechanism to “try those responsible” would be considered after the Russia-proposed investigation was over, he added.

The Russian envoy said the U.S. downing of Iran Air flight 655 in 1988 by the U.S. warship Vincennes wasn’t considered a crime, and that the Security Council didn’t see it as a threat to international security. The U.S. paid compensation to the victims’ families.

The defeated resolution on Flight 17 declared the incident a threat to international security, which is the legal basis for council involvement in such an issue. Mr. Churkin said there was no mention of such a threat by Western nations in the months after Flight 17 went down, but it has “suddenly” been invoked in the resolution that Russia vetoed.

Russia also believes ad hoc U.N. criminal tribunals on former Yugoslavia and Rwanda were expensive and subject to political pressure, Mr. Churkin said. The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 to replace such courts, but there has been no move to bring the Flight 17 case to The Hague. Ukraine isn’t a member of the ICC but could sign up to the treaty in full and approve retroactive jurisdiction.

Western diplomats have blamed Russia-backed rebels for downing the plane with a Russia-supplied surface-to-air missile. The Dutch investigation hasn’t yet established what weapon was used.

The veto “cannot and will not deny the victims justice,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the council. “While we are outraged by the outcome of this vote, no veto will stand in the way of this heinous crime being investigated and prosecuted.”

Forensic Team Completes Search of MH17 Crash Site

AMSTERDAM—Forensic experts have completed their search for the remains of the 298 people who died on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine more than nine months after the plane was downed.

On Saturday, the final seven coffins containing human remains will arrive in the Netherlands. Personal belongings and debris belonging to the plane will be repatriated at a later stage.

Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, the head of the Dutch-led recovery mission, said Thursday that the work has been completed, although it is unclear if all body parts at the site have been recovered.

“We can’t guarantee that everything has been found, but we do have the certainty that we have done everything possible,” he said.

The downing of the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17 killed 298 people, the majority of them from the Netherlands. Two victims have yet to be identified.

A team of 24 investigators returned to crash site two weeks ago after a monthslong suspension. Their recovery efforts had been frustrated by fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels.

A preliminary report released in September by the Dutch-led investigation team concluded that a large number of “high-energy objects” penetrated the plane and caused it to crash.

Ukraine and the U.S. have accused rebels of shooting down the plane with an advanced antiaircraft, a charge Moscow denies.

MH17 Investigators Resume Search for Remains of Plane Crash Victims

By Ellen Proper

THE HAGUE—A Dutch-led team of forensic experts will this week resume their search for remains of the victims killed in last year’s downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, an operation that officials said is complicated by land mines and a fragile cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.

The head of the recovery mission, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said the team will arrive at the crash site on Thursday. It will be the first time in months that forensic investigators access the area to resume their search for human remains still scattered on the ground.

The Netherlands in March dispatched a 12-person team of military, police and safety experts to the site to prepare the further repatriation of remains and other items.

The investigators suspended the operation in November because of harsh winter weather and fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels. Weather conditions in the area have improved in recent weeks and the front-line is now 50 kilometers away from the crash site, Mr. Aalbersberg said.

In the coming weeks, investigators will look for human remains at the two sites where the plane hit the ground. They will also search for debris in the area of Petropavlivka, which couldn’t be reached last year because of heavy fighting.

Mr. Aalbersberg said the situation in the area remains risky due to the presence of land mines and sporadic fighting in eastern Ukraine despite a cease-fire agreement. The repatriation mission will likely take several weeks, he said.

The downing of the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur left 298 people dead, the majority of them from the Netherlands. Two victims have yet to be identified.

A preliminary report released in September by the Dutch-led investigation team concluded that a large number of “high-energy objects” penetrated the plane and caused it to crash.

Ukraine and the U.S. have accused rebels of shooting down the plane with an advanced antiaircraft, a charge Moscow denies.

The Dutch-led probe into last year’s downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over east Ukraineannounced that its primary theory so far is that a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from rebel-held territorywas responsible for bringing down the airliner.

A spokesman for the Dutch prosecutor’s office described the theory as the “most realistic and important scenario.” Ukraine, one of five countries participating in the investigation, also announced Monday that the international probe had grown to focus on an attack by a Buk missile.

“All members of the international investigative group came to conclusion that the version we’ve announced…is currently the highest-priority version, the version that’s best supported [by the evidence],” Viktor Shokhin, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, said at a briefing in Kiev. He cautioned that other scenarios had not been excluded fully from consideration.

The announcement came as the probe released a nearly twelve-minute Russian-language video appealing for witnesses who saw the missile that presented photos, videos and maps of the weapon’s alleged whereabouts before and after the incident. The July 17 attack on the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur left 298 people dead, the majority of them from the Netherlands.

The video also featured a number of alleged recordings of tapped phone conversations between rebel fighters about the Buk, including some that were previously unreleased.

In one alleged recording from the night of July 17, hours after the plane was shot down, a rebel fighter tells his commander that a member of the Buk’s accompanying crew accidentally was left behind at a checkpoint and had to reunite with his team.

In a second series of alleged recordings, dated July 18, one rebel fighter says a militant known as “the Librarian” brought the Buk system and its crew from Ukrainian territory into Russia. In that recording, the Buk system isn’t referred to by name.

The investigation’s appeal also presented a detailed account of where the Buk allegedly traveled and when, using photos and videos that have surfaced online starting the day of the attack.

“We are looking for people who have seen the Buk system on this specified route from July 17 to July 18, 2014 on the territory of the Donetsk or Luhansk regions,” the video says. “If you can provide any sort of information regarding the Buk and its transportation, please contact us.”

The video ends by providing a hotline number, an email address and a website where people can upload photo or video evidence.

“The joint investigative team takes witness safety seriously,” the video says. “If you are concerned about your safety as a witness, we can offer you various protective measures.”

A preliminary report released in September by the Dutch-led investigation concluded that a large number of “high-energy objects” penetrated the Boeing 777 and caused it to crash—a finding consistent with a Buk missile strike.

Russian state news outlets have advanced the theory that the civilian airliner was downed by Ukrainian fighter jets, now a widely held view in Russia. Ukraine has denied those claims, and experts have said the debris points to a surface-to-air missile impact rather than an air-to-air missile strike. Officially, Russia has said it is up to the Dutch-led probe team to determine the truth.

Mr. Shokhin, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, said he expected the international probe to conclude by the end of the year.

Dutch Investigators to Return to MH17 Crash Site

By Robert Wall

LONDON—The Netherlands has dispatched a 12-person team of military, police and safety experts to the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down in eastern Ukraine last year to prepare the further repatriation of remains and other items.

The team arrived in Ukraine today and is next expected to make its way to the crash zone, including an area that was inaccessible last year because of fighting between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government forces, a spokesman for the Dutch government said. The group will make preparations for a return visit in April to gather clues into why the aircraft went down as well as retrieve also belongings of victims.

The Boeing 777 was brought down on July 17 while flying at 33,000 feet from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing 298 passengers and crew aboard, including 193 Dutch citizens. Ukraine and the U.S. accuse rebels of shooting down the plane with an advanced antiaircraft missile, a charge Moscow denies.

The Dutch Safety Board, which leads the crash probe, is expected to issue a final report in October. An interim report last year said the plane jetliner was brought down after being struck by “high-energy objects.” Dutch prosecutors also are gathering evidence to support criminal charges.

The Dutch team will that is due to remain in Ukraine until March 28 is posed to visit the area of Petropavlivka that couldn’t be reached last year because of heavy fighting. The group will retrieve items from the crash that have since been collected locally to support the criminal and safety probes.

The duration of the return mission in April and the size of the team will be completed once the group now in Ukraine has completed its assessment, the Dutch government spokesman said.

Local weather and security conditions could impact the team’s progress, the Dutch government said. It is working with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe officials that has a special monitoring mission in place for a year.